An injury-causing car accident can happen in an instant. An accident injury lawsuit in Colorado, on the other hand, can drag on for months or even years before you see any money in your pocket – if you obtain any compensation at all.
During that time, you’ll get medical treatment for your injuries that may include surgeries, medication, rehabilitation, and other care. That means you will also be getting bills – lots of them.
Even if you have insurance, these costs can be astronomical, especially if your accident injury keeps you from earning a paycheck. So, while your personal injury lawsuit and your efforts to get compensation from the responsible party proceed, how are you supposed to pay these bills in the meantime?
Start With Your Own Insurance After an Accident Injury
Hopefully, you have some form of Colorado group health insurance. Presuming you do, your health insurance provider will pay for the costs of your care and treatment according to the benefits outlined in your specific plan.
Even with health insurance you still may be on the hook for some of your medical expenses. For example deductibles, copays, and services which your health insurance plan only covers in part.
If your accident injury involved a car, truck, motorcycle or other insurable vehicles, you will want to make a claim with your car insurance company as well as that of the at-fault driver. You pay your auto insurance premium every month because your insurer agrees to cover your medical expenses and property losses in the event you are in an accident.
Your Insurers Pay Your Bills, But They’ll Want to Get Paid Back
One of the reasons accident injury victims file lawsuits is to get compensation to cover these expenses, as well as any medical costs incurred in the future because of the injury. If you prevail in a Colorado injury lawsuit or agree to a settlement, part of the money you receive is to reimburse you for any amounts you’ve paid out-of-pocket for your care.
But an accident injury damage award or settlement should cover all the costs of your care, including the large sums paid by your health or auto insurance company. Your insurer will want to recoup the amounts it had to shell out because of the defendant’s negligence. It will enforce its “subrogation rights” to any settlement or judgment by filing a lien with the court for the amounts it paid for your care under your policy.
Your Employer’s Workers Compensation Insurance Should Pay the Bills for an On-the-Job Injury
While your own insurers will be the first place to turn for the payment of your medical bills arising from such common occurrences as a car accident or slip and fall injury, things work differently if you suffer a work-related injury.
Like all other states, Colorado has a workers’ compensation system in place designed to quickly cover all medical expenses incurred by an employee who suffers an on-the-job injury. To get workers’ compensation benefits including the payment of medical expenses, an injured worker does not need to prove that their employer was negligent or responsible for their injuries, only that he or she sustained the injury during the course of their employment.
But the system doesn’t always work as it should. Some Colorado employers may not have required workers’ compensation insurance. Even if an employer does have such insurance, its insurer, like other insurance companies, wants to pay as little as possible or nothing at all in claims. That means the insurer may challenge a worker’s right to receive benefits by claiming that the injury wasn’t work-related, that the injuries were pre-existing, that they aren’t as severe as you claim, or that you don’t deserve the amount of compensation you are seeking.
In such situations, an experienced Colorado Springs personal injury attorney can help you get the benefits you deserve and ensure that your employer and its insurance company pay your medical bills as required by Colorado law.
What If There Is No Insurance Coverage?
If insurance isn’t available to cover your medical bills while you wait for the outcome of your accident injury lawsuit, your personal injury attorney may be able to help you while he or she continues to fight on your behalf to get compensation from the party responsible for your injuries.
Your injury lawyer may be able to work directly with your medical providers to delay some or all of your bills until the conclusion of your case or work out a more manageable payment plan.
Of course, hefty medical bills are only part of what you lose after someone else’s negligence injures you. Lost earnings, pain and suffering, a life that may never be fully the same – you deserve compensation for all of the damage done by the party responsible for your accident injury.
Hiring an experienced Colorado Springs personal injury attorney is the best way to ensure that you receive the maximum amount of compensation available for your losses.
Consultations with an Accident Injury Attorney are Free
The good news is that, if you want a consultation from a personal injury lawyer, you’ll pay nothing in fees until you get compensation, and many car accident attorneys offer free consultations. This is called a contingency fee, and you will only pay the contingency fee from money received from the at-fault party in the personal injury lawsuit. This is a normal pay structure for Colorado personal injury lawyers.
King & Beaty specializes in personal injury lawsuits in Colorado Springs. Contact us to schedule your free personal injury consultation in Colorado Springs to determine if you have a case.
Call (719) 505-9999
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